PBI/Gordon Corp. registers 'reduced-risk herbicides'

On November 30, 2001, the State of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services accepted for registration three new herbicides by PBI Gordon Corporation, an employee-owned company in Kansas City, Missouri.

The herbicides SpeedZone, SpeedZone St. Augustine Formula, and
PowerZone, contain the new turf herbicide carfentrazone-ethyl, and
are useful for postemergence broadleaf weed control in several
warm-season turfgrasses. The Florida action followed the fast-track
approval of the new herbicides by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), also in 2001. The EPA felt that because small amounts
of carfentrazone-ethyl, for example, 0.04 pounds per acre, were
effective in enhancing weed control, and because the rates of other
herbicide ingredients could therefore be reduced, it would be better for the environment to make the PBI Gordon products available quickly. The EPA considers the new registrations, "Reduced-Risk Herbicides."

Because PBI Gordon significantly reduced the concentration of mecoprop in SpeedZone St. Augustine Formula, compared with other phenoxy herbicide mixtures, it now has a phenoxy (e.g., 2,4-D) product that is safe for use on St. Augustinegrass. This essentially erases a 50-year avoidance of phenoxy herbicides in St. Augustinegrass turf.

SpeedZone St. Augustine Formula joins two other relatively recent
broadleaf postemergence herbicides for St. Augustinegrass, Lontrel by Dow Agrosciences, and Manor by Riverdale Chemical Company, thus there are now three alternatives to atrazine.

For a summary of research on all these products, as well as a history of broadleaf weed control in St. Augustinegrass visit: